Towing crib or hull.



F. A. EMERICK.

TOWING CRIB OR HULL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 9. 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

Patented June 12, 1917.

A TTOR/VEY F. A. EMERICK.

TOWING CRIB 0R HULL.

.1229426" APPLICATION HLED DEC. 9. 1916- Pa tented June 12 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- In; Nam-us puns w. PnurO-urnm WASHINGION. n c.

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FREDERICK A. EMEBICK, F OSWEGO, NEW YORK.

arownvo CRIB on HULL.

Application filed December 9, 1916.

1 '0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. EME- RICK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oswego, in the county of Oswego and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Towing Cribs or Hulls, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is an automatically unloading towing crib or hull for use in water transportation of pulp wood, logs, and other things that are floatable in water. The objects of the invention are to facilitate the towing of pulp wood, logs and the like, to avoid losses thereof incidental to present methods, and to lessen labor and expense of unloading or discharging at destination. My invention is adapted for embodiment in new crib or hull construction and also in converting old hulls into my new automatically unloading cribs or hulls; and hereinafter I set forth two different forms of my invention, each of which is desirable.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, and illustrating my invention in the best forms now known to me,

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a series of my new towing cribs or hulls connected one to another, and for connection with a tug.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view, on a larger scale than in Fig, 1, of one of the cribs.

Fig. 3 is an elevational view partly in section at line 33 of Fig. 2, showing construe tional details of two sides and of a fixed end wall of the crib.

Fig. 4: is a longitudinal. section at line 4- 1 of Fig. 2, and shows side and end gate construction of the crib.

Fig. 5 is a rear or gate end elevation of the crib.

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional detail of gate construction at line 6-6 of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a sectional detail 'at line 7-7 of Fig. 4:, illustrating a gate beam locking means. i

Fig. Sis a plan, and

Fig. 9 a lengthwise sectionat line 9-9 of Fig. 8 indicating ordinary scow construction having at its broader stern end a gate structure provided with a valved water-inlet.

In the drawings, I first show that form of my invention which is the cheaper to build anew, and in which the lengthwise-ere tending bottom side corner beams or side sills, 1, 1 of the crib or hull are shown di- Specifi'cation of Letters Patent.

Patented June 12, 1%17.

Serial No. 136,002.

verging in the rearward direction, and at their front ends are severally spaced apart in the vertical direction from the next upper one of a series of lengthwise extending side beams 2 by an end tongue 3 of a front-end transverse beam or sill a which forms the lowermost of a vertical series of front-end beams 4 (Fig. 3). Each end tongue 3 is formed by formation of a right-angular cut in a lower corner portion of an end of the beam as shown in Fig. 3, and 'at each side of the crib the side beams 2, placed one above the other, are separated by the tongues 8 of the front end bars t which are also separated one from another by the location of, the tongues 3 between them. Each front corner formed by a series of side beams and avertical series of front beams is provided with an upstanding post 5 to which the front ends of the side beams of each side and the corresponding ends of the front beams are fastened as at 6. Between the ends the side-beams 2 and the front beams d are spaced apart by blocks 7, bolts 8 being passed through the beams and blocks to hold them in place. Parallel with the front sill or beam 4, a series of transverse bottom beams 9 spaced laterally apart are held to the sills 1, 1 by extension of bolts 8 through the sills 1 and the side beams 2; and lengthwise'extending bottom-forming planks 10 spaced apart are secured to the under sides of the front sill and of the bottom beams 9, the rearmost one of which forms the rear end sill of the crib which by the described construction is formed with long sides with openings between their members, a front end with openings between its members, and a bottom with openings between its members, all the openings being for passage of water therethrough. The rear end of the crib is provided with a gate construction described below.

Along each long corner of the crib a series of air-containers 11 are fixed by retaining and protecting members 12 to keep the crib with or without a load from. sinking, and to give it required buoyancy. The upper retaining and protecting member is shown as planking covering the containers and extending along the long sides of the crib or hull.

The upper beams of the crib are shown tied together at intervals by transverse tie. beams 13 above and resting on which are transverse tie rods 14 anchored at their ends in the uppermost side beams 2. These tie rods in a measure protect the tie beams when and if struck by logs or pulp wood in loading. Near each rear end, each open side wall of the crib is provided with upstanding planking 15 fixed to the side beams and bracing them; and each forming a bearing for an eye-bolt 16 the body of which passes through a hole in the planking and rearwardly thereof for the reception of a coiled spring 17 between an edge of the planking and a head 18 of the eye-bolt. The eye 19 of each eye-bolt is at the rearward edge of the planking and is shown connected to a chain 20 which is for use either in towing or in flexibly connectingthe rear end of the crib with the front end of another crib, when a number of connected cribs are to be towed in series. In starting and in towing in rough water, it is very desirable to have some form of yielding connection between connected cribs if several are to be towed tandem. I show open chocks 21 on the crib sides. These can be used as numerously and in such locations as desired for ropes if line connections between tandem cribs or crib and tub are desired. With the exception of the undermentioned gate, the above sets forth the normal floatable crib or hull; but if increase of its normal capacity is desired, a superstructure of side and front beams can be readily arranged of supplementary beams as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 4c, the beams being interconnected at the corners, spaced apart, and fixed to the corner posts 5 as described; and otherwise secured by bolts and blocks as shown by the dotted line superstructure. To this end, I may use taller corner posts 5 than are required for the normal crib understructure. In prac tice, each crib may be about seven feet deep, thirty-five feet wide, and sixty feet long, for a good working example.

As pulp wood and log cargoes are difficult to handle and are customarily handled piece by piece in unloading, and as it frequently happens that expensivedelays are occasioned by lapse of time involving demurrage payments, in unloading such cargoes I wish automatically to unload by flotation. The preferred gate or removable rear end construction is as follows: Adjacent each planking 15 at the broad rear end of the crib there is a fixed post 22 which slants upwardly and forwardly. Just forwardly of the rear end sill, there is a transverse beam 23 the top of which slants downward andforwardly. This beam 23 and the gate'posts are fixed in position by suitable fasteners. On top of beam 23 and extending lengthwise thereof there is supported the lowermost of an upwardly and rearwardly slanting series of transverse gate beams 24 which are spaced apart by body enlargements thereof at intervals between the ends; each enlargement being conveniently formed by spiking planking to inclose a beam as at 25. Each gate post is provided with a series of hooks 26, each of which is adapted to hook into a slot 27 in the outer wall of a gate beam. Thus in place, all the gate beams are locked in place by hinged cleats 28 on the front of each gate post, each cleat being turnable into engagement with the upper latch of theseries of latches or hooks and held in such position by a pin 29. v

The upwardly and forwardly inclined position of the gate posts supporting the contacting ends of the gate beams in the correspondingly-inclined position, the gate beams being spaced apart as stated, and the slanting'position of the gate beams which are severally removable, tend to prevent pulp wood from getting between and weighing down or holding the lower gate beams so that they will not float off in discharging the contents of the crib. That is, if the gate beams were arranged in a vertical trans verse tier there would be more likelihood of pulp wood or log ends floating in between gate beams and weighing down the under gate beams, than there is in the slanting construction shown. a

In unloading, the gate beams are unhooked and may float or be pushed off into the water, and the pulp wood or logs be floated off and out until the crib or hull is unloaded. As the crib or hull is likely to become more or less water-logged, the air containers are intended to prevent it from sinking toolow in the water, and in practice, even when empty its bottom will usually be well below the surface but its cargo of logs or pulp wood will tend to float upwardly in it; and it will be advantageous when the nature of the cargo permits to hitch a tug to the front end of the crib or hull and pull it out from under the more or less buoyant cargo; and therefore the particular gate construction described may be varied, if desired, as also may be the hull or crib, without departure from this invention. It is to be understood that sometimes individual logs and pulp wood are heavy and will sink and that the buoyancy of logs and pulp wood varies with variations of kind of wood and its different conditions of dryness and moisture. The greater width of the rear or gate end is desirable to facilitate unloading by flotation.

The foregoing construction is now pre ferred because it presents great economy of original construction over a hull which is made solid and water-tight. But it is also practicable either tobuild new or to convert old water-tight hulls of appropriate size into towing hulls for the present pur-' pose; and in Figs. 8 and'9 I show a form of. scow 30 the stern end of which has been replaced by a solid gate structure shown as comprising two members 31, 31 each hinged at 82 to a corner 33. The hinged ends of the gate members, their bottom edges and vertical free edges, are rabbeted at 3% to make approximately water-tight joints with contacting wall portions 35 of the hull. The gate members are locked in closed position by suitable lock bolts 36. One of the gate members is provided with a water-admission tube 37 which is provided with a valve 38 by opening of which water is admitted to the hull to float the cargo. The gates are then opened and the cargo floated out. In all forms of construction that embody my invention, the gate structure is a gate'forming wall of the hull or crib. The more or less water-tight form of my invention permits a larger cargo than the cage-like form of it, and this is desirable, but unless old water-tight hulls can be bought at a sufficiently low cost the crib-like form is the cheaper to make and it may be made out of logs if desired.

lVhat I claim is:

1. A float-able towing crib comprising bottom, side and end members spaced apart and fastened together, and provided at one end with a series of floatable detachable gate members that are arranged to be floated out of position; and means for holding the gate members severally in gate-forming position, such means including upwardly and inwardly inclined posts provided with gatei'nember-engaging hooks and means for temporarily locking the hooks in place.

2. A floatable towing crib comprising a hull having a water-admission opening; an end gate for an otherwise open end of the hull; and means for holding the gate in position; said gate comprising a plurality of floatable members arranged to be floated out of'position, and the hull tapering from its gate end to its other end.

8. A floatable towing crib comprising bottom, side and end members spaced apart and fastened together, and provided at one end with a series of floatable detachable gate members that are arranged to be floated out of position; and means for holding the gate members severally in gate-forming-position; and cross-beams connecting side beams of the crib; and cross-irons uniting said side beams and being located along the upper sides of the crossbeams for protection thereof.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 6th day of December, 1916.

FREDERICK A. EMERICK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

